nose around

Verb

nose around (third-person singular simple present noses around, present participle nosing around, simple past and past participle nosed around)

1. (idiomatic, informal) To snoop around; to discreetly or covertly search or examine a place or situation.
   • The state had no business nosing around in people's sexual lives.2004 June 10, Leslie Feinberg, “The love that dared to speak its name”, in Workers World
2. (idiomatic, informal) To browse; to look at, especially to satisfy one's curiosity.
   • As you may now realise, it has become my habit to get a feel of a racecourse by nosing around the local churches.2004, Stephen Cartmell, Racing Around Britain, →ISBN, page 140
   • Consider the West Village before you say no. You know you like nosing around the little bookshops and cafés there.2009, Hanif Kureishi, Something to Tell You, →ISBN, page 313
3. (informal) Of an animal, to explore using the nose.
   • We lay quietly while the bear nosed around outside only two feet away from our heads, then wandered away.1989 May, Jeff MacInnis, “Braving the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 599
   • The tiger nosed around in the weeds for a while, but soon returned to its original hiding place, presumably to mull over what it had learned.1993, Barry Reynolds, John Berryman, Pike on the Fly: The Flyfishing Guide to Northerns, Tigers, and Muskies, →ISBN, page 19